Georgina Reid
Sydney-based Georgina is the founder and editor of online magazine The Planthunter
The Planthunter explores the relationship between plants and people. How do people benefit from having a life filled with plants? The bonds between people and plants, while often hard to articulate or quantify, run incredibly deep. Firstly, if plants don’t exist, we don’t exist. That’s enough of an impetus to live a life surrounded by plants, right? Secondly, tending to plants teaches so many lessons about the intricate connections between all life. The poet Stanley Kunitz once wrote, ‘The universe is a continuous web, touch it at any point and the whole web quivers.’ I love this sentence, because it illustrates both the incredible beauty and fragility of existence, and the interconnectedness of all life. Plants, and the act of gardening, teach us about life and perspective in a way few other pursuits can.
On the flip side, do plants benefit from being around people? I guess it depends on context. An indoor plant needs people otherwise it’ll die a long, slow death due to starvation. But people, clearly, are not always good for plants. I imagine the millions of trees that have lived for centuries – standing tall and silent in forests, along rivers, in bushlands – that have been razed to the ground as a result of mindless human desires. They clearly haven’t benefitted from being around people.
What are some of your favourite indoor plants?
I love Hoyas. They’re subtle and beautiful and tough. Then there’s Rhipsalis – I’ve got plenty of them. And Lepismium, Peperomia and more. I love them all, and have an ever-revolving collection hanging out in my living room and kitchen.